 Organiste du roi de Pologne Stanislas Leszczynski en exil au château de Chambord, Charles-Alexandre Jollage (v.1700-1761) poursuivit sa carrière à Paris à l'orgue des Petits-Pères (aujourd'hui Notre-Dame des Victoires) avant de succéder en 1755 à Calvière pour devenir l'un des quatre organistes de Notre-Dame de Paris aux côtés de Drouard du Bousset, Daquin et Armand-Louis Couperin. Ce "Premier Livre de Pièces de Clavecin" (1738) constitue sa seule publication connue. Deux copieuses suites se partagent l'oeuvre: la première en la majeur/mineur, la seconde en sol majeur/mineur avec des rondeaux dédoublés en deux sections autonomes majeur/mineur à l'instar du "Postillon" ou de "L'Agitée-La Tranquille" dont le dédoublement caractérise deux affects opposés. Si le goût qui prévalait à leur époque en France domine, quelques pièces, notamment "L'Italienne" et "L'Obstinée" déploient un style très moderne qui n'est pas sans rappeler Domenico Scarlatti. Combinant frivolité et douce mélancolie, sérieux et légèreté, ces oeuvres distillent comme un reflet sonore de la peinture de Watteau. En enregistrement public et sur une copie de clavecin Blanchet au moelleux magnifié par une prise de son transparente, Fernando de Luca varie agilité digitale et rêverie en harmonie avec la nature de cette musique qui ne cherche qu'à plaire et émouvoir. (Michel Lorentz-Alibert) A world-premiere recording of elegant, courtly French harpsichord suites by a forgotten name of the early 18th century. The early life and formation of Charles-Alexandre Jollage is shrouded in obscurity. By the time he enters the historical record in the 1720s, he had become organist for the King of Poland, Stanislas Leszcznski, at that time exiled to France and settled at the castle of Chambord in the Loire region of France. In 1733 Stanislas left Chambord for Warsaw where he claimed the throne of Poland; meanwhile Jollage seems to have settled in Paris, where his only known set of work was published in 1738, and dedicated to the Marquise of Clermont d’Amboise. After that point, it has been established with greater certainty that he remained in Paris as an organist, and died there in 1761. This ‘First Book’ of Jollage’s harpsichord works was never followed by a second, but the two suites therein have rewarded the investigation of Fernando De Luca, who has already revived the little-known harpsichord music of Christoph Graupner (96131) and Christophe Moyreau (96285) for Brilliant Classics. Jollage’s refined and elegant idiom reflects the predominant taste in France during the first half of the 18th century, enlivened throughout with touches of originality. Take, for example, the penultimate piece of the First Suite: L’italienne, which is written in an entirely contemporary style perhaps emulating Domenico Scarlatti and even resembling the sonatas of Haydn. In his booklet essay, Fernando De Luca makes a pertinent comparison between Jollage and the contemporary master Watteau. ‘By combining dance, music and painting, while suspending time and movement, Watteau captures a snapshot of human life… He combines lightness and tragedy to capture a fleeting moment. Jollage draws his creative lifeblood from the same source, while retaining all the characteristics of harpsichord music of his period.’
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